Several of the policies adopted by the Move Forward Party (MFP) and its seven prospective coalition partners in Thailand took inspiration from Taiwan, MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat said in an interview on Tuesday.
The MFP won the most seats in Thailand’s general election on May 14, but Pita’s hopes of becoming prime minister could yet be denied by Thailand’s military.
He told the Central News Agency (CNA) that some of the coalition’s 23 policy proposals were based on those already implemented by Taiwan.
Photo: Bloomberg
“A lot of our policies are based on the Taiwanese experience,” Pita said, citing Taiwan’s Uniform Invoice lottery, which encourages people to ask for a receipt in a bid to tackle tax evasion.
The 42-year-old added that marriage equality was another issue where his party hoped to follow the lead of Taiwan.
Thailand could also learn from Taiwan’s promotion of transparency and good governance, such as using digital platforms to make government information more accessible, he said.
On a personal note, Pita said he met with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) at the APEC summit last year.
Chang was President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) envoy to the event in Thailand.
“I also have had a chance to meet Mr Morris Chang of TSMC on a possible cooperation in terms of economics and education on the chip industry,” Pita said, adding that they are both graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had bonded over their shared alma mater.
Despite the majority formed in Thailand’s lower house by the MFP and its coalition partners, the 250 members of the military-appointed Thai Senate also get a vote on the country’s next prime minister, a state of affairs that could see Pita lose out on the job.
Asked about his policy plans in terms of diplomacy, Pita told CNA that it has to be “rules-based diplomacy,” with the objective being stability in Asia and the world as a whole.
“There might still be ... Sino-America rivalry, but if this is strategically managed, such competition will benefit countries, including Thailand and others in ASEAN,” he said.
“It is time for a middle power like Thailand to really step up to the global arena and to really shape the new world order,” he added.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS